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It’s no surprise that doctors tend to get a lot of affirmation for their life-saving precision when it comes to surgery. The doctor who performed my surgery reluctantly received plenty of attention for saving my life. My case and the way he performed my hysterectomy have been studied both abroad and at home. He chose to take on the surgery (first of its kind) knowing the risks at hand. Even his wife knew of the concerns. She called her friends and they gathered to hold a prayer vigil while he was performing the surgery.

I still have him as my doctor and see him often. I can call him anytime I need something – day or night. He and his wife came to our adoption celebrations. We’ve exchanged Christmas cards and shared food together. Our families have stayed friends through the years and he knows that I hold no bitterness towards him or the Lord. Even still, he gets a bit weepy when we talk about my surgery. It absolutely impacted his life.

The reality is that it was not just his expertise and his hands that saved my life. There were many nurses who walked through that terrible sadness of my illness; yet, they did not receive the same type of attention and they did not get to watch me grow up and eventually become a mother.

To the nurses who worked the pediatric floor at the formerly called St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri and who had a hand in saving my life in 1983, thank you.

Thank you for carrying my family through a horrible ordeal. Thank you for holding my mother up while she nearly collapsed from the news and for offering my dad extra blankets at night because he just couldn’t leave. Thank you for wiping away tears, caressing my hands and speaking words of encouragement into my ears.

Thank you for holding my body down while the needles were sliding in and out of my veins. I knew it needed to happen and you did, too. Thank you for checking in on me all of the time and showing the utmost professionalism with the full measure of tenderness. Thank you for sneaking a friend onto the floor (even though it was against hospital policy).

Thank you for seeking my parents out to offer assurance that I was receiving the best care and for being goofy, smiling a lot and cheering my recovery. Thank you for putting up with my smarty-pants antics when you couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my IV machine but I could (and I told you how to fix it). Thank you for holding each other accountable.

I’ve often thought about the nurses on the pediatric floor who tended to my needs. Without them, I know my experience in the hospital could have gone a lot different. Even though it was a traumatic time, the love received absolutely made an incredible impact on my healing.

Nurses deal with anger, confusion, grief, sickness, bodily fluids, weeping parents and screaming patients on any given day. They are comforters, counselors, scientists, and mentors. They are teachers, advice givers, and hand-holders.

They intentionally walk into the trenches of sickness and trauma, sometimes even at their own risk. They put up with bureaucracy, policies, and politics and do so with their patients on their minds. Nurses do not get enough credit for the life-affirming and hope-dealing job that they do.

To the nurses who had a hand in saving my life in 1983 and to all of the nurses out there, thank you.

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I’ve heard the quote, “Kids Who Need Love the Most Often Ask for it in the Most Unloving Ways” (Russel Barkley) more than once. I never really understood it until I began my own parenting journey many years ago with a relative of mine. Now, as a parent to three children who all have some special (yet not obvious) needs, I totally understand the essence of this quote.

Recently, I was asked to write about this subject for Adoption.com. (By the way, if you haven’t visited the site (www.adoption.com), you should. It is a fantastic site for pretty much all things related to adoption.)

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Pssst..hey, Momma-in-Waiting. Yes, you. Christmas is all around us, isn’t it? You overhear your co-workers talk about the sweet surprises for their kiddos. You are forced to look at picture after picture of your friend’s little one’s first Santa visit. It’s not that you don’t think the images are cute or that you don’t want to see them. It’s just that it hurts…really hurts.

Christmas morning in most houses is filled with chaos, giggling children, and mounds of bows and wrapping paper. Weary parents get up at the crack of dawn to watch their children excitedly rip open that special gift from Santa. Christmas morning at your home is a little different, though. You get up whenever you desire and exchange presents with your spouse or anyone else staying the night. It’s quiet and calm and in that stillness, your heart plunges to a depth a lot of people just don’t understand. Your mind races with the same questions you’ve cried out for way too long…

Why is this happening? When will it end? What is wrong with me? What if I never become a mother? What if every Christmas is this quiet?

Pssst..hey, Momma-in-Waiting. My own house is now filled with chaos at Christmas. I hear my giggling children and clean up mounds of bows and paper. I watch as the kids rush to the tree to see what Santa brought. I wish I could tell you that it’s not that big of a deal and you’re not missing much, but that would be a lie. You know it and so do I.

It’s a little ironic, isn’t it? We celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas; yet, you are wailing, wanting, and desperate to celebrate your own miracle; your own gift to the world. You are waiting to celebrate the birth of your baby. I don’t really know what to say except I was once where you are and I know that it is miserable. I knew I could never birth a child but I did not know if I would ever be a parent. It is so incredibly hard. It’s one of the worst pains any human can experience on Earth. I believe that. I really do.

From Hannah and on, barrenness is noteworthy. If it wasn’t, then I suspect it would not even be mentioned in Scripture. People tell you, “God has a plan for you.” They say, “If it’s God’s will, then it will happen.” Do you want to know something? I loathed those words. I could not stand them. I despised every single time they were said to me (and they were said more times than I can count).

Only now, after adoption and actually being a Momma-no-longer-in-Waiting, can I say that I “get it”. I understand that the Lord did have a plan and adoption was His will for my life. Yet, this knowledge does not erase the pain that I felt nor does it wipe my memory clean of my existence when I was a Momma-in-Waiting.

Pssst..hey, Momma-in-Waiting. Yes, you. Christmas is hard but so is just about every day when your steps are padded in confusion. If there is one gift I can give to you this Christmas, it is this – your feelings are valid, your frustration is justifiable and your grief is not lost on those of us who have been there or who are there right now.

At this Christmas and every single day after, I want you to know that even though it feels like it, God has not forsaken you. He never will. Even though you do not feel His presence, He is there. He is near you when test after test shows a negative, or when your doctor tells you news that you just don’t want to hear. God is with you when you are lonely, tired and weeping the most sorrowful, thick tears ever imaginable.

Perhaps, Momma-in-Waiting, this is the best gift I can give you; the hope of the Lord.

Be strong. Be fierce. Be courageous. Don’t let anyone stifle your feelings or your voice. Keep talking about infertility. Keep asking questions and all of those other laborious things you need to do when you are meeting with doctors. Don’t let others tell you how to navigate this journey for it is your own.

Pssst..hey, Momma-in-Waiting. Yes, you. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a child who changed the world. Today, Momma-in-Waiting, I’m thinking of you and I believe that the very baby born so long ago is thinking of you as well.

For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. – Isaiah 41:13

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Oh, friends. Writing this article broke my heart. Working in child welfare, I’ve always been aware of some of the struggles that older youth face both in the system and once they age out of foster care (U.S.), but I never really took a hard a look at the statistics.

In my home state, I have seen a change in the way cases are handled. We are putting more of an effort in developing safety plans to keep families intact. We are aiming for and making increased placements with relatives and others who know the children. The number of kids entering care has dropped significantly in my county. However, there is still older youth who are aging out – whether prepared or not.

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Hi there! November is almost over with and Christmas is on its way, but we still have a few days left for National Adoption Awareness Month. This year’s theme is “Teens Need Families, No Matter What”. It is such an important theme and speaks of the reality of older youth in the system who are waiting for their permanent families.

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Pssst…Hey, Momma-in-Waiting. Yes, you. You’ve cooked up the most delicious dish for today. You get compliments on it and are asked for the recipe but if truth be told, you barely remember cooking it. Instead, your mind was focused on what this Thanksgiving Day brings to you – a whole lot of anxiety and sadness.

You meet and greet family members that you haven’t seen in a while. They are all excited for you to meet the new little one just born into the family. You act thrilled (and you are) but deep down, you are also absolutely devastated. You think, “When will it be my turn?”

As the day progresses, you take a moment or two to step outside and catch your breath. It is tricky, you know; tricky to navigate the relationships that you have, to express joy and gladness over the new little one that is in your family, and to answer the best you can when folks start asking about starting your own family.

A part of you just wants to scream – I mean, SCREAM! If only they knew how much you wish you could actually give them an answer or how often you research infertility, treatments, doctors, adoption and anything else tangled up in your experience. If only they knew.

Here you are on Thanksgiving. You are told to be thankful. You are expected to be thankful. You feel guilty if you are not. This is where the rubber meets the road. While others are gleefully living their lives (or at least, it seems like it), you are stuck waiting for your life to move on. You want to move on past this whole infertility/no baby/no pregnancy garbage. You want to forget this whole chapter of your story was ever written, but you can’t. Most of all, though, you just want to know that you will be a mother one day.

On this Thanksgiving Day where so many around you remind you of what they are thankful for, take time for yourself. You don’t have to be thankful for what you are going through but it is important to notice it. How can you not? Even if you don’t want to remember this season of your life, your body, mind, and spirit will remember every single pain-staking decision you have had to make and every single tear you have shed.

Thanksgiving is hard, isn’t it? If you are a believer, you know that we are to be thankful in all circumstances. Ugh, right? How can you be thankful for infertility? The honest answer from this previous Momma-in-Waiting is that it is extremely difficult and maybe you won’t ever be able to be thankful for it, and that’s okay. One day, you will recognize that you survived it. That’s big. That’s enough.

Pssst…Hey, Momma-in-Waiting. Yes, you. Today might be a little rough. You’ve got this. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Tomorrow is a new day and that is something we can all be thankful for.

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See that sweetie right there? That’s my daughter before she came to live with us. Her first foster mama sent us the picture after it was decided that we would be her new home. They loved her dearly but made the decision that they could not be a long term home for her (in case she needed one), so we were called.

I remember it so vividly. As I was sitting in the parking lot of Goodwill (which is a bit ironic), my phone rang. I saw the number and knew it was our state’s child protection services calling. My stomach flip-flopped a bit and I answered, “Hello?”. The social worker on the other line explained my daughter’s situation and asked the words that so many foster families know, “Are you interested in being a placement?”

I told her that I needed to call my husband first. We agreed to talk about it after work. After his call, I called my mom for her advice. Even as an adult, I knew I needed to speak to her. Technically, we were not even on “the list” for placements but we did tell our licensing worker to keep us in mind.

Thoughts swirled through my head. “What about our son?” (He was only two at the time and we had just been through close to two years of fostering him before we were able to adopt.) “How will it impact him?” “Are we ready for another kiddo?” “Can I handle the sleepless nights again?” “Are we ready to not be in control and unsure of what is going to happen with this little girl’s case?” “Can we do this?” You get the point. It was overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.

I called the social worker back and asked, “Could we have a few days to work some things out and talk about it before we make a decision?” She said, “Of course, that is fine.” So we did…and we said, “Yes.”

This past weekend we celebrated my daughter’s ninth birthday. With each of my children’s birthdays, I relive the day they came into my life. It’s like reliving a birth story but of course, I wasn’t there for their births. I wasn’t around to watch them enter this big world. I didn’t get to swaddle them up and hold them close as they cried out, “I AM HERE!” However, I was there when social services called. I’ve been here ever since.

Watching my daughter grow through the years has given us much joy. It has also come with a whole lot of challenges – some unique to adoptive families, some typical of any family raising a girl.

She’s interested in learning about the world around her and feels every ounce of emotion that enters her mind. If we can just teach her to harness all of these qualities, I dare think she could be a force to reckon with in the future.

I’ve had nine on my mind; nine years of watching a baby who literally arrived on my doorstep grow into a girl who makes an impression on just about everyone she meets.

Foster parenting is something that never leaves you. The experience is surreal, emotional and so worth it. When we began, we had no idea what would happen. When we decided to close our license, we walked away with a wealth of knowledge, a big dose of humility, and two children who became ours through adoption.

Yes, I’ve had nine on my mind; nine years of loving and training up a daughter who just might change the world. I know she’s changed mine.

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About Me

Hello, friend! My name is Caroline. I'm a wife and mother of three children. In 1983, at the age of eleven, I became gravely ill and ended up needing an emergency hysterectomy. I am blessed by the adoption of my children and have great peace with my "lot in life".
I am deeply passionate about encouraging others struggling with infertility and about advocacy for foster care (two of our kids were adopted out of foster care). I no longer consider myself barren. I consider myself fruitful, joyful, whole and blessed.